Phillies Power Past Braves, 7-6

Gavin Floyd tried to be more aggressive. Chase Utley needed to relax.

Both plans worked Thursday night at Atlanta as Floyd gave up three runs in six innings and Utley hit his first two home runs of the season, giving the Philadelphia Phillies a 7-6 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

The Phillies won two of three from the Braves after opening the season with a 1-5 homestand.

“It feels good to win two in a row,” said shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who led off the game with a home run. “That’s something new around here. That’s just the beginning.”

Utley was batting only .200 with no homers, and Floyd (1-1) had a 10.13 earned-run average after his first start.

For Floyd, the key was to attack.

“It feels better to be able to let loose and let it go,” Floyd said. “That’s what I focused on.... The whole thinking process of being perfect or whatever just went out the window.”

Floyd gave up five hits and left the game with a 6-3 lead.

Jeff Francoeur’s second homer of the game -- and the season -- was a two-run shot off Ryan Franklin that cut the lead to 7-6 in the eighth inning.

Tom Gordon earned his second save by stranding two runners in the ninth.

Rollins, Bobby Abreu and Utley homered off Kyle Davies during the Phillies’ five-run first inning.

Utley hit another home run in the fifth inning to chase Davies (0-1). The second baseman had a sacrifice fly in the seventh off reliever Lance Cormier, giving him four runs batted in for the game.

“He has been trying a little bit too hard,” Phillie Manager Charlie Manuel said of Utley. “He gets in a little funk, but he’ll bust it and come out of it. He’s fine. I don’t worry about him.”

Utley, a former UCLA star who hit 22 homers and drove in 105 runs in his first full season in 2005, had no homers and three RBIs through his first 30 at-bats this season.

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Florida 9, San Diego 2 -- Dewon Brazelton gave up eight runs in four-plus innings and fell to 0-16 lifetime on the road when the Marlins defeated the Padres at Miami.

Florida’s Mike Jacobs hit a three-run homer, his third, and Dan Uggla hit a two-run homer, his first.

The Marlins, who came into the game with the worst record in the majors, ended a five-game losing streak and improved to 2-6.

Brazelton (0-2) gave up two homers, two doubles, two infield singles and walked four. He has yielded four homers in 6 1/3 innings this season and has an ERA of 24.16.

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Milwaukee 4, St. Louis 3 -- Carlos Lee hit a tiebreaking home run in the top of the 11th inning, minutes after making a pair of game-saving catches at the left-field wall, helping the Brewers avoid a three-game sweep.

Lee leaped high above the wall to grab Juan Encarnacion’s bid for a two-run homer for the first out in the bottom of the 10th.

Then he caught Jim Edmonds’ drive to the wall off Jorge De La Rosa (1-0) with runners on first and third for the third out.

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Cincinnati 8, Chicago 3 -- Felipe Lopez and Austin Kearns hit three-run homers to lead the visiting Reds at Wrigley Field. Eric Milton (2-0) yielded three runs -- two earned -- in 6 2/3 innings in his second solid outing of the season.

Milton also tripled with one out in the fifth and scored his second run of the game on an errant pickoff throw by Carlos Zambrano that increased the Reds’ lead to 5-1

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San Francisco 5-0, Houston 3-8 -- Roy Oswalt pitched 8 1/3 strong innings and Lance Berkman hit his league-leading fifth and sixth homers of the season, giving the visiting Astros a split of the day-night doubleheader.

Oswalt (2-0) gave up eight hits, struck out two and walked three. Berkman hit a two-run shot to center batting left-handed in the third and a solo homer to left batting right-handed leading off the ninth. It was the first time in his career he homered from both sides of the plate in the same game.

In the first game, Moises Alou hit his 300th career home run and Barry Bonds twice came close to hitting his first of the season. Neither played in the second game.

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New York 13, Washington 4 -- The heart of the Met lineup made it perfectly clear that it’s possible to hit the ball over the wall at RFK Stadium.

Carlos Beltran, David Wright and Cliff Floyd homered in the first inning at Washington, and Carlos Delgado later hit a two-run shot, all off Livan Hernandez (1-2), leading the Mets to their sixth consecutive victory.

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Colorado 5, Arizona 3 -- Brad Hawpe homered for the fourth game in a row, leading the Rockies at Phoenix. Hawpe’s home run streak matches the third-longest in club history.

The record is five in a row, shared by Larry Walker and Dante Bichette. And none of Hawpe’s homers have come in hitter-friendly Coors Field.